I Tested 9 React Native Animation Libraries (Here’s What Works)

Why do some mobile apps feel smooth while others feel clunky? I’ve noticed the difference is usually animations under load, especially during scrolling, navigation, and gesture-heavy screens. Google research shows 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load, and the same performance expectations carry over to mobile apps.

The truth is, smooth animations in React Native apps are no longer a luxury; they’re a must-have for a modern, engaging user experience. In today's competitive app market, users expect fluid screen transitions, fun micro-interactions, and visual feedback that feels natural. This high standard of user interface (UI) design pushes developers to find the best animation libraries for React Native.

React Native has grown a lot, offering one codebase for both iOS and Android apps. While it has a built-in animation system (the React Native Animated API), developers often need more powerful, flexible, and high-performance tools to create truly smooth animations in React Native apps. 

The right React Native animation libraries can dramatically cut down development time and boost your app's feeling of quality. In this article, I’ll break down the 9 best animation libraries for React Native in 2025, from simple fades to gesture-driven interactions, based on what actually holds up in real app screens.

What to Keep in Mind Before Using Animations in React Native

Animations can make a React Native app feel premium, but I’ve also seen the wrong setup cause lag, battery drain, and inconsistent behavior across iOS and Android, especially once the app is under real user load. Before picking a library, keep these practical checks in mind:

Performance first: If your animation must stay smooth during scrolling, API calls, or heavy UI updates, prefer native-driven options like React Native Reanimated (and avoid running complex animations on the JS thread).

User experience: Animations should guide attention, confirm actions, or improve navigation clarity. If an animation doesn’t help the user understand what happened, it usually becomes visual noise.

Battery and resource usage: Continuous animations, large Lottie files, or frequent re-renders can drain battery and heat devices. Use animations intentionally and stop or pause them when they’re off-screen.

Cross-platform differences: Some gestures and transitions behave differently on iOS vs Android. Test key screens on at least one mid-range Android device, not only an iPhone.

Accessibility and reduced motion: Respect system “Reduce Motion” settings when possible, and avoid motion-heavy effects for essential flows like login or payments.

If you want the smoothest results, choose your library based on the interaction type (gesture-driven, designer animation, screen transitions) and the device constraints you expect in production.

Quick Comparison: Which React Native Animation Library Should You Use?

Choosing the right animation library depends on what you’re building, and I’ve found it’s easiest to decide based on the interaction type you need in production. Some libraries are optimized for performance, while others focus on ease of use or designer-driven animations. This quick comparison helps you decide before diving into details.

At a glance:

• Best for high-performance and gesture-based animations: React Native Reanimated
• Best for simple animations and beginners: React Native Animated API, React Native Animatable
• Best for designer-created animations: Lottie React Native
• Best for screen-to-screen transitions: React Native Shared Element
• Best for advanced graphics and custom UI: React Native Skia
• Best for easy Reanimated-based animations: Moti
• Best for natural, physics-based motion: React Spring

If you already know your app’s animation needs, this overview helps you jump directly to the right library below.

What to Consider Before Choosing a React Native Animation Library

Not every React Native animation library fits every app. Before picking one, it’s important to understand what actually matters for your use case. These factors can help you avoid performance issues and unnecessary complexity later.

Performance requirements If your app relies heavily on gestures, swipes, or continuous animations, performance is critical. Libraries like React Native Reanimated run animations on the native thread, keeping interactions smooth even under heavy load.

Complexity vs simplicity Some libraries offer deep control but require more setup and learning time. Others are designed for quick wins. If you only need basic effects like fades or slides, simpler options may be more practical.

Gesture and touch interactions Apps with drag-and-drop, swipe cards, or pinch-to-zoom interactions need strong gesture handling. Choosing a library that integrates well with touch input prevents lag and dropped frames.

Designer collaboration If your animations come from design tools like Adobe After Effects, libraries such as Lottie make it easy to bring designer-created motion into your app without rewriting animations in code.

Cross-platform consistency Animations can behave differently on iOS and Android. Using well-supported libraries helps ensure consistent behavior across platforms and reduces device-specific bugs.

Learning curve and maintenance Some libraries evolve quickly and require frequent updates. Consider how active the community is, how good the documentation is, and whether your team can maintain it long term.

Thinking through these points makes it easier to choose the right React Native animation library before writing a single line of animation code.

9 Best React Native Animation Libraries in 2025

1. React Native Reanimated

React Native Reanimated runs animations separately from your app's main code. Your animations stay smooth even when the app is doing other things. This is the go-to choice when I need animations that stay smooth even when the app is busy, so screens don’t stutter or lag. The library handles everything from simple fades to complicated touch-based animations without slowing things down.

It works perfectly with React Native Gesture Handler for swipe-to-delete actions, draggable items, and touch interactions. Big companies like Shopify and Expo use Reanimated in their apps because it delivers consistent, smooth performance. The way it's built means gestures respond instantly without any delay, which makes your app feel professional and polished.

Features:

• Runs separately for smooth 60 FPS performance
• Touch-driven animations that respond instantly
• Entry and exit animations for screens
• Smooth transitions between different screens
• Works with the gesture library for swipes and drags

Pros:

• Works great on both iPhone and Android
• Handles complicated animations without lag
• Lots of community support and updates
• Good guides and examples

Cons:

• Takes longer to learn than simpler options
• Too much for basic fade or slide effects
• Needs understanding of how it works under the hood

Best Use Cases

React Native Reanimated is best suited for:

• Gesture-heavy interactions like swipe cards, drag-and-drop lists, and pinch-to-zoom
• Smooth screen transitions and layout animations
• High-performance production apps where animations must stay fluid under load

Use Reanimated when animation performance is critical and user interactions need to feel instant.

2. React Native Animated API

The built-in Animated API comes with React Native. You don't need to install anything extra. It works fine for basic effects like fading, growing, and shrinking, and simple movements. For straightforward animations that don't need complicated touches or swipes, the built-in option is lightweight and gets the job done.

Facebook uses it for subtle effects in React Native parts of their app. Most React Native developers already know how it works, and there are tons of help and tutorials online. While it’s not as powerful as Reanimated, and I’ve seen it slow down when the JS thread is busy, it’s still a solid choice for test apps and projects with simple animation needs. You can make multiple things animate at once, run effects one after another, and smoothly change between values.

Features:

• Already included (nothing to install)
• Fade, grow, spin, and move effects
• Smooth value changes
• Run multiple animations together or in order
• Works with most React Native parts

Pros:

• No installation needed
• Familiar to React Native developers
• Lots of help is available online
• Good enough for basic needs

Cons:

• It can slow down during heavy use
• Limited for swipe and drag features
• Not great for apps needing top performance

Best Use Cases

The built-in Animated API works best for:

• Simple animations such as fade, scale, rotate, and slide
• Lightweight UI transitions in small or medium-sized apps
• Prototypes or apps that do not rely on complex gestures

Choose the Animated API when you want basic animations without adding extra dependencies.

3. React Native Gesture Handler

React Native Gesture Handler handles touch interactions using your phone's native system, which means better performance and faster response than React Native's built-in touch features. Combined with Reanimated, you can make drag-and-drop interfaces, swipeable cards, and pinch-to-zoom features. This library fixes performance problems with React Native's built-in touch system by handling touches entirely on the native side.

The library gives you clear commands for handling touch events and works tightly with Reanimated for creating React Native gesture animation examples. It handles touch events separately for smooth recognition without any delay. Apps like Tinder use similar patterns for their card-swiping interface. React Native Gesture Handler makes these patterns straightforward while keeping smooth 60 FPS performance even during complicated multi-touch gestures.

Features:

• Native touch recognition
• Tap, swipe, pinch, rotate, and fling support
• Works perfectly with Reanimated
• Consistent touches on iPhone and Android
• Handles touches separately for speed

Pros:

• Much faster than built-in touch handling
• Essential for swipe and drag features
• Works perfectly with Reanimated
• Handles tricky situations automatically

Cons:

• Need to learn new commands
• Can clash with other touch handlers
• Not needed if your app doesn't have swipes or drags

Best Use Cases

React Native Gesture Handler is ideal for:

• Swipe-to-delete, swipe-to-dismiss, and draggable UI components
• Custom touch interactions beyond basic taps
• Apps that rely on consistent gesture behavior across iOS and Android

It is most effective when combined with Reanimated for smooth gesture-based animations.

4. Lottie React Native

Lottie React Native connects designers and developers. Your designer makes an animation in Adobe After Effects, exports it as a file, and you drop it into your app. No recreating complicated animations by hand or using big video files. This is one of the most lightweight React Native animation libraries because these animations are much smaller than videos or GIFs.

The animations look sharp on any screen size and stay really small. A typical Lottie animation might be 20-50KB, while the same thing as a video could be several megabytes. Airbnb created Lottie, and now companies like Uber and Netflix use it for welcome screens and loading animations. You can change colors on the fly, adjust speed, and play just parts of an animation.

Features:

• Works with Adobe After Effects animations
• Scales to any screen size without blur
• Tiny file sizes (usually under 100KB)
• Looks the same on iPhone and Android
• Control playback (play, pause, change speed)

Pros:

• Designers create animations without developer help.
• Very small file sizes
• Always looks crisp and clear
• Simple to add to your app

Cons:

Needs Adobe After Effects to make animations

Doesn't work well for touch-based animations

Can't easily change individual parts

Best Use Cases

Lottie React Native is best for:

• Onboarding animations and splash screens
• Loading indicators and success animations
• Designer-created animations that must look identical across devices

Use Lottie when animations come from design tools like After Effects and don’t require user interaction.

5. React Native Skia

React Native Skia brings Google's Skia graphics engine to React Native. It's essential for making custom drawings, charts, complex visuals, and effects that normal React Native parts can't do. While not really an animation library, it's crucial for complex visual effects and custom designs that need detailed control.

Skia handles high-performance graphics, charts, and custom drawing that other libraries can't manage. Canva uses it to show design elements smoothly in their mobile apps. The library uses your device's graphics card for smooth rendering and gives you complete control over 2D graphics. You can make custom shapes, add visual effects, build data charts, and create animations that would be impossible with standard components.

Features:

• 2D graphics using the device graphics card
• Custom drawing, paths, and shapes
• Visual effects and filters
• Works with Reanimated for animations
• Fast, smooth rendering

Pros:

• Handles complicated graphics that other libraries can't
• Perfect for charts, graphs, and data display
• Uses a graphics card for speed
• Complete control over how things look

Cons:

• Hard to learn if you're new to graphics
• Too much for normal button and fade animations
• Makes your app file bigger

Best Use Cases

• Custom charts and data visualizations
• Advanced UI graphics and drawing
• Apps requiring GPU-accelerated rendering

Best for visually rich apps beyond standard UI components.

6. React Native Shared Element

React Native Shared Element makes things smoothly move between screens. Images grow from a small thumbnail in a list to fill the whole screen when tapped. It works with React Navigation. This library focuses specifically on making one thing flow from one screen to another, creating a smooth visual connection.

The library handles tricky problems like flickering and cut-off edges automatically. It can morph shapes and change sizes between screens. Apps like Instagram and Pinterest do this all the time. When you tap a photo in your feed, it smoothly expands to fill your screen. React Native Shared Element makes this pattern much easier than building it yourself from scratch.

Features:

• Smooth item transitions between screens
• Fast performance without slowdowns
• Fixes flicker and display problems automatically
• Change shapes and sizes smoothly
• Works great with React Navigation

Pros:

• Creates polished, professional transitions
• Pretty easy to set up with React Navigation
• Handles tricky edge cases for you
• Smooth, fast performance

Cons:

• Only does screen transitions
• Works best with React Navigation
• It can be hard to fix when something goes wrong

Best Use Cases

React Native Skia works best for:

• Custom charts, graphs, and data visualizations
• Advanced UI effects and custom drawings
• Apps that need full control over 2D graphics rendering

Skia is ideal when standard UI components cannot achieve the required visual complexity.

7. React Native Animatable

React Native Animatable gives you 60+ ready-made animations. Need a button to bounce? A pop-up to fade in? A notification to slide down? This library handles it with simple code. It wraps your components with easy commands that make them animate without complicated setup.

The library includes common animations like fadeIn, slideInDown, bounce, shake, and pulse that work with just a few lines of code. You can connect animations, add delays, and make them repeat forever. It's perfect for small touches, those little animations that show users their tap worked or their action is processing. The library works great for loading spinners and progress bars without needing any complex configuration.

Features:

• 60+ ready-to-use animation styles
• Simple, clear commands
• Adjust timing and speed easily
• Smooth changes between states
• Repeat and delay options

Pros:

• Quick to set up
• Perfect for common button and pop-up effects
• No complicated setup needed
• Great for loading animations

Cons:

• Not flexible enough for custom animations
• Doesn't work for swipe and drag features
• Not as fast as Reanimated

Best Use Cases

React Native Animatable is best for:

• Simple UI animations like bounce, shake, fade, and zoom
• Buttons, modals, alerts, and loading indicators
• Quick implementation with minimal configuration

It’s a great choice for beginners or when animations are purely decorative.

8. Moti

Moti builds on top of Reanimated but makes it easier to use. It's inspired by Framer Motion, so it feels familiar if you've done web animations. You get Reanimated's speed without the hard learning curve. The library sits on top of Reanimated, giving you fast performance while keeping the code simple and clear.

Moti makes animations straightforward while keeping great performance. It's especially good for developers who want powerful animations without learning Reanimated's complicated parts. The library handles screen layout animations with very little code and includes ready-made patterns for common effects. If you're coming from web development and know Framer Motion, Moti will feel right at home.

Features:

• Built on Reanimated for fast performance
• Simple commands like Framer Motion
• Layout animations with little code
• Ready-made animation patterns
• Works great with TypeScript

Pros:

• Easier to learn than Reanimated
• Still performs well
• Perfect for web developers switching to mobile
• Clean, easy-to-read code

Cons:

• Smaller community than Reanimated
• Less control for super complicated animations
• Newer, so fewer tutorials available

Best Use Cases

Moti works best for:

• Declarative animations with clean, readable code
• Layout animations with minimal setup
• Developers familiar with Framer Motion on the web

Choose Moti when you want Reanimated-level performance with a simpler API.

9. React Spring

React Spring uses spring physics instead of duration and easing curves. This creates motion that feels organic. When users interact with your app, spring-based animations respond intuitively. The physics-based approach creates smooth transitions that feel natural and responsive. It's particularly effective for bouncing effects, smooth modal transitions, and motion-based UI elements. Microsoft Teams uses it for smooth modal and notification animations. The hooks-based API with useSpring and useTransition makes implementation straightforward for developers familiar with React hooks.

Features:

• Physics-based spring animations
• Hooks-based API (useSpring, useTransition)
• Cross-platform support (React and React Native)
• Gesture integration capabilities
• Interpolation for complex animation sequences

Pros:

• Creates natural-feeling motion
• Good for interactive elements and gestures
• Works across web and mobile React projects
• Smooth performance for most use cases

Cons:

• Unpredictable if you need precise timing
• Less documentation than Reanimated
• May require tweaking spring configs

Best Use Cases:

React Spring is ideal for:

• Natural, physics-based animations
• Interactive UI elements with organic motion
• Smooth modal and notification transitions

Use React Spring when motion should feel realistic rather than time-based.

Choosing the Right Library for Your Project

For high-performance apps with complex interactions: React Native Reanimated handles everything from simple fades to complex gesture-based animations.

For designer-created animations: Lottie React Native lets designers own the animation process. Good for onboarding flows, loading states, and polished motion graphics.

For quick prototypes and simple animations: React Native Animatable or the built-in Animated API get you moving fast.

For natural-feeling motion: React Spring creates physics-based animations.

For screen transitions: React Native Shared Element makes navigation between screens seamless.

In production, I rarely rely on a single library; most apps end up combining tools based on the type of animation. You might use Reanimated for main interactions, Lottie for loading animations, and Shared Element for screen transitions.

Common React Native Animation Problems (and How to Fix Them)

Even with the right animation library, I’ve still seen React Native apps feel janky or inconsistent when animations aren’t implemented carefully. Below are common issues developers face, and how to fix them.

Animations feel laggy or drop frames: This usually happens when animations run on the JavaScript thread. When the JS thread is busy, animations stutter.

Fix: Use native-driven libraries like React Native Reanimated and avoid heavy logic inside animation callbacks.

Gestures don’t feel responsive: Delayed swipe or drag interactions are often caused by React Native’s default touch handling.

Fix: Use React Native Gesture Handler together with Reanimated to move gesture handling fully to the native layer.

Animations look smooth on iOS but lag on Android: Android devices, especially mid-range ones, are more sensitive to overdraw and layout thrashing.

Fix: Reduce simultaneous animations, avoid unnecessary shadows, and test on real Android hardware early.

Too many animations hurt performance: Animating everything ,buttons, cards, lists, backgrounds ,overwhelms the rendering pipeline.

Fix: Animate only what adds clarity or feedback. Micro-interactions are more effective than constant motion.

Lottie animations increase app size or memory usage: Large or complex Lottie JSON files can impact performance.

Fix: Optimize animations in After Effects, reuse animations across screens, and pause playback when off-screen.

Accessibility issues with motion-heavy UI: Some users experience discomfort with excessive motion.

Fix: Respect system “Reduce Motion” settings and avoid mandatory animations in critical flows.

Understanding these pitfalls helps you use React Native animation libraries more effectively and ship smoother, more reliable apps.

FAQ

What is the best animation library for React Native beginners?

React Native Animatable is best for beginners. It offers ready-made animations with minimal setup and no complex configuration.

How do I add animations in React Native without hurting performance?

Use native-driven libraries like React Native Reanimated, and avoid running complex animations on the JavaScript thread.

Can I use Lottie animations in React Native apps?

Yes. Lottie React Native lets you use lightweight JSON animations created in Adobe After Effects with excellent performance.

What’s the difference between Reanimated and the Animated API?

Reanimated runs animations on the native thread for better performance, while the Animated API runs on the JavaScript thread and is suited for simpler animations.

Which React Native animation library is best for gesture-based interactions?

React Native Reanimated, combined with React Native Gesture Handler, offers the best performance and responsiveness for gestures.

Should I use multiple animation libraries in one app?

Yes. Many production apps combine libraries, such as Reanimated for gestures and Lottie for designer animations.

Conclusion

The React Native animation ecosystem in 2025 is mature. You don’t need to be an animation expert to create smooth, engaging mobile apps. The libraries I covered here support everything from simple fades to complex, gesture-driven interactions.

Start with what fits your skill level. React Native Animatable is good for beginners. As you grow more comfortable, Reanimated opens up more possibilities. Lottie connects the worlds of design and development.

The best approach is often to use multiple libraries together. Use Reanimated for core interactions, Lottie for polished graphics, and Shared Element for screen transitions.

Animations should enhance your app, not complicate it. Choose lightweight React Native animation libraries that match your needs, test on real devices, and prioritize user experience over flashy effects. The React Native animation ecosystem in 2025 is mature. You don't need to be an animation expert to create smooth, engaging mobile apps.